Amends and Other Stories
by livvylovesyou
Summary: Futurefic. Beck and Trina's marriage is falling apart, and their children are suffering for it. Josh and Athena Oliver can try to hold their parents' relationship together, but it's hard while their own demons are tearing their personal lives to pieces. As everything crumbles around them, the family has a choice: to face up to their mistakes or lose it all.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys. It's been a while since I've been on here. Anyways, last year I started work on this Brina futurefic with KeepCalmCuzAnythingCouldHappen, then this got abandoned. But I feel like for the sake of YOLO I should just publish this, then maybe the pressure of society would convince me to keep going. **

**I think this came about after we both submitted Trina's kids to the same OC story a while back. ****Athena is her Brina lovechild OC, Josh is mine. I felt like they needed their own adventure. **

**Anyways, I hope you like it and stuff. **

* * *

**Prologue**

Athena Oliver was crouched behind the chest on the stairs, biting her lip to hold back tears. Beneath her, audible but out of her line of vision, she could hear her parents throwing angry words back and forth like weapons.

On her count, this was the third time this week.

She listened as the "conversation", if you will, turned to income tax.

Then something about her brother, Josh.

Then stopped altogether.

Athena peeked out from her spot on the stairs just in time so see the door slam shut. Her mother stood silent in the kitchen, staring at the knob, at a loss for words. Then she retreated across the kitchen, sank down in a chair, and put her head in her hands, and stayed like that for a long time.

It was then that Athena realized what had just happened.

Careful not to make any noise, she crept back upstairs, wiping fresh hot tears on the back of her wrist. She darted down the hallway, slowly opening the door to her room, but stopped. The room was dark, but the pink walls were suffocating. Quietly, she shut the door behind her and turned and walked back down the hall, and turned the knob that had been collecting dust for the last nine months.

Josh's room was pitch black, save for the stream of light the slightly opened door let in. Athena moved gently over the carpet, curling up on top of her brother's bed. The soft flannel comforter and the springy flexibility of the mattress beneath her were comforting, and she could almost imagine him sitting next to her, telling her that their father was going to come back, that it wasn't the end of the world, that it was all going to be okay because at least she was still pretty.

Then she opened her eyes and Josh was still in Arizona and she was still laying there alone and her mother was still sad downstairs and her dad was still gone.

Her parents had been fighting way too much recently. She'd noticed it far more since Josh left. He was almost a mediator for them, and when he was around they'd settle down. It was probably his affinity for running away whenever he possibly could that fueled their desire not to give him any reason to.

But now, with her brother away for a greater part of the last three years, they'd gone from tenseness at the dinner table to full-on shouting matches almost every night. And Athena woke up almost every morning to find her Dad on the couch downstairs.

She wasn't five anymore. She knew that the couch came with a certain "D" word that she couldn't bring herself to say. And she knew that if it happened to her parents she'd probably never recover.

Trina Oliver was her best friend. Beck Oliver was her guardian, her companion. If either of the two went and lived somewhere else, it would almost feel like they had taken an extension of her. What with Josh's long absences, she really couldn't handle being apart from her family anymore.

Knowing fully how strange it was, Athena tucked herself into Josh's bed, aware of how long it had been since the sheets had been washed and how dusty it was in there. Even old and stale, the entire room still smelled like him. It was only in times like these that she really noticed just how much she missed her big brother.

She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket, the screen lighting up the entire room. Speed dial 3 was Josh Oliver, even though she had the number memorized. Her finger hovered briefly over the 'place call' button, and she thought back on something he told her the day he left for junior year: "Call me, Theenie, okay? I'm always around for you. Just not after eight. Here, your ringtone is 'She's Got A Boyfriend Now'. That way I'll always know it's you and I promise, pinky swear, that I'll drop whatever I'm doing and answer, okay?"

Athena peered at his alarm clock. It was ten thirty, a good two and a half hours after eight.

She took a deep breath and chose to call him anyways. After all, it was kind of an emergency.

* * *

Deep bass pulsed through Josh's body, filling the tight space between him and Scarlett with heat and intensity. The dubstep had been her idea, and Josh was fully into the entire experience. Scarlett was warm on top of him, her rushed breaths matching the beat of the song and making Josh's skin seem to rise to her with very exhale. He smiled, remembering that morning, and her not-so-subtle request. Working side by side in their anatomy class, she had run her hand over his arm and told him to meet her later, if he wanted. When he asked if she was sure, she had replied "It's my major, Josh. I know chemistry when I see it."

So he and Scarlett had left the class early that evening to study the biochemical and neural effects of physiological contact on human anatomy alone together, in Josh's room.

And she was truly amazing at it. Tangled in his sheets and trailing moist kisses down his neck, she ran her fingers through his hair and over his stomach, body moving to every bass-heavy beat. She really was one of the best he'd ever had, and Josh could definitely see himself staying this way forever.

Barely discernible over Nero's "Promises" came a few tinny notes, and Josh groaned.

"_Now she's got a boyfriend and I got a rock band, guess nothing really ever goes the way it's planned..."_

He tried to get up, but Scarlett's weight kept him down. Shifting slightly, he reached out to the bedside table, groping for his ringing phone. Scarlett gripped his arm, her golden hair brushing his shoulders as she traced his collarbone with her lips. "What's wrong?" she asked.

_"Now she's in Ohio and I'm on some back road..."_

"I gotta take this." Josh tried to explain, lifting her gently off of him. Scarlett's lips parted in protest, but she sank back against the headboard, covering herself with his bedsheets, and shut her eyes.

_"Driving to the city and then who knows..."_

"Seriously?" she asked, annoyed. "Just tell them you're in the middle of sex and you'll call them back."

_"Cause that's how she rolls..."_

"Wouldn't be Boys Like Girls if it wasn't important." Josh muttered.

_"Wish that I could turn this car around…"_

"I'll wait." she said, letting the sheet slip, inviting him back to her. Josh stared at her for several long moments, tempted to ignore the call and just explore every inch of her body. God, he wanted it. But there was another girl who always came first, and she was waiting on the phone.

_"But she's got a boyfriend now."_

"Sorry." Josh grabbed his boxers off the chair in the corner, pulled them on (_come on, think about dead kittens and naked grandmas_), and stepped out into the hallway of their co-ed dorm, shutting the door behind him. Several girls giggled and scattered. Blushing, he sank down against the wall and accepted the call. "This better be damn important. What part of 'not after eight' did you not understand?"

"Oh. Did I interrupt something?" Athena answered, voice scratchy over the line. But even the static-filled connection in the dorms couldn't mask her subdued tone.

Josh leaned back against the wall, trying to suppress a sigh. "Actually, yes. There's a hot chem major waiting in my room and I'd kinda like to get back to what I was doing."

"Well, I'm glad to hear I take precedence over sex." she muttered, but her voice broke before she could finish.

"What's wrong?"

"Josh, Dad's gone." His little sister's voice became shaky and quiet, like she was trying hard not to be heard, or cry.

"What do you mean?" he asked. He'd been aware for some time that there was turmoil back home, but what he didn't know was how serious it was.

"They had a fight and Dad left and Mom's crying and I don't know what to do."

"What, should I?" Josh replied quickly, briefly irritated. Athena didn't answer, but he could hear her breathing over the line. "I'm studying art and bioengineering, not psychology." he reminded her. "I know even less than you about this stuff."

"When are you coming home?" she whimpered, and Josh sighed.

"Semester doesn't end for two weeks." He paused, wanting to comfort her and get back to Scarlett at the same time. "Look, Theenie, Dad's gonna come back, okay? They're gonna work things out."

"I hope so." Sniff.

"And if all else fails, just remember, you're still pretty. Got it?" Silence. "Anything else?"

"Nope. Go have fun."

"Yeah, okay." He stifled a sigh, running a hand through thick brown curls. _Fun?_ Fun seemed almost wrong, given the situation at home.

"Bye, Josh. Love you."

"Later." Josh set the phone down next to him on the floor, staring at the carpeting in front of him, feeling his heart sink to his stomach. Dad was gonna come home, that he knew. But he knew, and he was pretty sure Athena did too, that they probably weren't going to work things out. It had been too many years of fighting. Too many years to patch things up now.

He didn't want to think about what would happen when one day one of them decided they were sick of forgiving.

With a long sigh Josh stood, pocketing his cell phone, and slowly opened the door to his room, wiping his hands on his boxers. _Nothing cools you down like marital problems_. Scarlett looked up at him from her position on the bed. "You ready?" she asked, licking her full lips, enticing him. Josh took a deep breath, settling on the edge of the mattress and letting his head fall into his hands.

"Scarlett, I'm sorry, but I just can't do this right now." he tried to explain, watching her perfect lips pull into a frown.

"No, I get it." she said, slipping gracefully off the bed, and began to collect her clothes. "Call me if you change your mind. You really are fantastic." His gaze traced her body, following the contours of her hips, the smooth sweep of her blond hair across her shoulder. Already he wanted to call her back, to crank the volume up higher and continue where they left off. But the mood had left with Athena's call, and he was fairly sure it would be lost for a while.

"I will." Josh promised her, holding her for one last kiss before she left, hips swinging as she strutted down the dormitory hall, neglecting to even get dressed first. He shut the door gently behind her, letting out the sigh he'd been holding in as he slumped against the wall, unsure of what to do next.

After a short period of deliberation Josh picked up his car keys, pulled on a pair of pants and an old t-shirt, and locked the door behind him. He was only halfway done with finals, but his grades were good and this took precedence. He slipped back out into the hall, merging seamlessly into the mingling student body, before walking back out to the student garage and collecting his car. He checked the time. Eleven PM.

With any luck, he could be in LA by tomorrow morning. Hopefully Dad would be back home by then.

Josh didn't even want to think about what would happen if he wasn't.


	2. Grown-Up Sleepovers

**5:03 AM, May 10th**

_Athena looked out at the sea's great tides, storming and raging before her. The sandy beach was warm beneath her feet. Her mother, young and peaceful, was asleep beside her. Athena could feel her presence but could not move to see her. Her eyes were fixed on the tide._

_Like magic a huge black tidal wave sprang up before her. It bore down on the coast with intense velocity. Athena reached down, searching for her mother, but came up with handfuls of sand. Her head would not turn, her eyes could not close, her throat could not fashion a shriek._

_Higher up, on the crest of the wave, a small boat rested, rocking back and forth precariously. Its sole occupant was unconscious. Beck rode the tide into shore, unaware and unknowing._

_Trina slept. Beck slept. Athena tried to scream._

_A high-pitched buzzing rang out across the water as the wave crashed over her head._

Athena shot up in bed, breath coming in shallow gasps, her hair plastered against her forehead. Residual panic had her pulse racing in her ears. A high-pitched hum rang incessant through the halls. She rolled over, hugging her pillow to her chest and tried to fall back asleep.

God, what was that noise? Obnoxious, constant, loud. She blamed her thoughts, running wild in her head. The visions of the nightmare haunted her. She couldn't possibly have guessed at their meaning. Outside, the buzzing hums took up a rhythm. She pressed her head into the mattress, her thoughts drowning out the noise and leaving her brain void of any dregs of fatigue.

**9:21 AM**

The phone rang, rousing Athena from a fitful sleep. She groped for the receiver, eyes closed, accepting the call on the third ring. "Hello?"

The voice on the line was serious. "Thena, there's a strange man on your front steps."

She sat up, leaning against the headboard and running her hand through her silky brown hair. "Wait, who is this?" she asked, peering out the window. The dormer hid the porch from view.

"Tracie Shapiro? Duh?" Her voice was impatient.

Athena let out a short laugh. "Right. Sorry, Trace."

"Seriously, though, there's, like, a dude on your porch. I was just driving by and I think he was sleeping or something but you might wanna check on that."

"'Kay." She rolled out of bed, stepping into her flip flops. Crossing her fingers and praying it was her father, back home for good.

"Also, your dad's at my house."

Her heart sank, and she swallowed hard. "'Kay."

"Anyways, report back when you find out who it is. Love you."

"Will do." Athena set the phone on the dresser, rushing downstairs. She made a quick stop in the kitchen for a blunt-force weapon (heavy copper soup ladle) and sustenance (pink M&Ms) and proceeded slowly towards the front door, staring the doorknob down with a cautious glare. Hefting the ladle above her shoulder, she thrust the door open with the other hand. "What the-"

There was most certainly a man on her porch, sleeping sitting up against the wall, head hanging between his knees. It looked like an awfully uncomfortable position to fall asleep in. She gave him a sharp jab with her foot, tightening her grip around the handle of the ladle. He awoke with a start, eyes landing on her immediately.

Eyes that were the exact same shade of hazel she saw in the mirror every day.

She felt her eyes widening and his face broke into a grin, making him light years more recognizable. "Josh!" she yelped, casting aside the ladle and running outside. She was hugging him around the chest before he even had a chance to fully right himself. "Josh, why were you sleeping outside?"

"I sort of left my house key in Arizona. I buzzed for ages but no one was awake so I just figured I'd wait it out." They broke contact, and Athena stepped back, studying him. His hair was shorter and lighter every time she saw him, and now it was almost a sun-bleached bronze, highlighted with a full spectrum of gold. He no longer had the short fringe he'd sported for twenty years. The short scruff on his jaw that was more than just a day without shaving was also new. But other than that he was the exact same Josh, and it was so, so good to see him.

"I missed you." she said with a warm smile, inviting him inside. "What are you doing here?"

"You sounded urgent on the phone. Besides, I wasn't feeling that much college at a time, anyways." Josh glanced around the front hall, turning back to her. "Are Mom and Dad home?"

Athena looked away, staring at her pink toenails. "Mom's asleep." she muttered. She could practically feel Josh's spirit fall.

"Hey." She felt his hand on her shoulder and she glanced up at him, into eyes wide with concern. "We can fix this, okay?" Athena nodded, stepping out of his grip. She hated feeling short. Josh forced a grin back onto his face. "Now, a more pressing issue - do you guys have food?"

"Duh, college boy. Get it yourself." She gave him a light shove towards the kitchen, wondering when her mother was going to wake up. It had been a few hours, and they'd been making a fair amount of noise. She wondered, briefly, if she should check on her, but decided not to. If my husband was sleeping on someone else's couch, I'd sleep in, too.

Josh was rifling through the fridge when she walked in, pulling out plastic cartons of leftovers and setting them on the counter. Athena retrieved the bowl of M&Ms from the living room and propped her chin up with her hands, resting her elbows on the bar, and searched her brain for anything to talk about, anything other than Mom and Dad.. "So Hot Chem Major. Is she your girlfriend?"

He pulled his head out of the fridge just long enough to roll his eyes. "She's a girl who's a friend." Athena shot him a look, and he glowered back, lifting himself up onto the counter and shoving a forkful of cold, congealed fettuccine alfredo into his mouth. "Hey, I'm not gonna answer your freaky way-too-personal questions about my sex life if you're gonna judge me."

"Sorry." she conceded. "Also, gross. But seriously: was she a friend before you slept with her or are you just saying that to make me feel more comfortable with your hedonistic ways?"

Josh grinned. "We've been friends for a while now. And I didn't sleep with her. We had sex. And then you called, so we didn't even get to finish that."

Athena grimaced. "Ew. Ew. Spare me the gory details."

"You're seventeen and sex still makes you squirm. Interesting."

She shook her head. Sure, she was a virgin, but it was more of a moral thing than an aversion. She wanted to wait. It would be better that way. Besides, she could a recall more than one instance of walking in on either her parents or Josh, and that image had stuck to her firmly enough she wasn't sure if she could ever shake it. "Sex and the fact that that meatloaf is like two weeks old." she said, and he shrugged. "No, I can deal with talking about sex, but the mental image of my big stupid brother is just - ew!"

Josh laughed. "I've missed you, Thena."

She thought for a moment. "What's her name - the chem major?"

"Scarlett." His lips curled up a little at the corners of her name, reflexively, like he couldn't help it. Athena wondered briefly if to him she was more than just a friend, but bit it back. Josh and a commitment like a crush didn't mesh well in her mind.

"Are you gonna keep having sex with her?"

He let out a noise that sounded something like a giggle. "I dunno. Maybe. Now can we not talk about Scarlett anymore?"

"No. It's making you uncomfortable. I love it." Plus, it was anything to stay off the subject at hand: their parents. Casual kitchen counter banter was a much safer place than getting their hands dirty with relationship drama. "You know we still have a microwave, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm starving. It's been, like, four hours since my last drive-thru."

Athena dropped an M&M in her mouth and let it sit on her tongue for a little while. It had been fourteen hours since dinner last night, and she still wasn't hungry. Wait. No, that was wrong. They hadn't had dinner last night, not after what had happened. It had been seventeen hours since the apple she had for a snack. Eating just seemed such a trivial worry at the moment.

There was a stirring upstairs. Josh and Athena turned their eyes to the ceiling, and then towards each other. "You ready?" she asked, and he shrugged, setting the container down on the counter. The sound of footsteps on the stairs started to set her a bit on edge.

What would her mother say? Would she be sad? Angry? Numb? None of the plausible options sounded good. No, what her mother needed was something to cheer her up. Josh could provide his presence, but Athena -

Athena smiled. She had a hat.

Since she was a baby, Trina had always had a consistent love of hats. There was rarely a day when she'd let Athena leave the house hatless, and her favorite thing to do was to bring home new hats for her beloved daughter, and see her try them on, with the perfect clothes and matching shoes... and Athena had the perfect hat waiting in the coat closet. She'd bought it last week for her best friend Tracie's high school graduation - a white satin fascinator that clipped in right over her part and shaded one eye with gold lace. Her mother had yet to see it. So she retrieved the hat from its box in the closet, slid the barrette into her hair, and waited for Trina to come downstairs.

She hadn't anticipated the look on her mother's face when she arrived in the kitchen. Trina's mouth fell open. She studied Josh up and down. Her fists clenched by her sides. And then she marched forward, and in a truly motherly tone, shouted "What the HELL are you doing here?"

Josh laughed nervously. "Athens called me home. Sounded like she... and you too, I guess... needed me."

Trina crossed her arms, looking up at her son. "You couldn't have waited two more weeks? Literally all it would have taken for your exams to be over and your term done. God, I'm gonna be so embarrassed if you flunk out of college-"

"Relax, Mom, I'm not staying for the whole summer. I'll go back and take my exams, and then come home for good."

She sniffed, relaxing visibly. "That's the problem, though. How do you expect me to let you go now?" And Josh was in her arms and Athena was leaning back against the stove, feeling just a little bit forgotten. She knew the novelty of having her brother home would soon wear off, but sharing the spotlight that her mother had once shone exclusively on her was a little hard to swallow, at first.

Athena was her mother's daughter. Her mother's only daughter. And she would be the first to admit she was adored. A little bit spoiled, even. The small reputation she'd garnered was well made up for by her mother's constant affection. Her father was a bit more critical, but he fell more easily into the role of the guardian and less of a friend. Beck was a little bit harder on her, but still doting, still the perfect father.

Josh pulled away first, looking down on Trina. "Mom, what happened last night." It wasn't really a question.

"Josh." Trina warned, turning to the fridge. Opening it, and sort of leaning in. Athena watched her mother's back rise and fall with long breaths, watched her stand still for a few moments while the cold air left the crisper and pooled on the floor around Athena's toes. Finally, Trina closed the door and flipped the switch on the coffee maker with a little more force than was necessary. "It's okay. It'll be fine."

She wasn't talking to Josh, of that much Athena was sure.

Finally, Trina looked over at her. Athena forced her most winning smile onto her face, tilting up her chin to show off the hat and her hair. Her mother smiled, eyes creasing in the corners as a means of proof that it was really genuine. "Oh, Thena, that hat is ah-MAY-zing."

Athena stepped forward and hugged her mother close to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "I know." she murmured into Trina's hair, breathing her in. "I got it 'cause of you."

* * *

**Much more of a sibling bonding chap, less of a drama thing. Beck's coming back next chapter. See you next time. (Not all updates will be this fast.)**

**xoxo, liv**


	3. A Second Chance for Wishful Thinking

**Sorr for the short, lat****e chapter, I'm a bit busy. Exciting-er chapters to come. I'm not writing Tori's family into this.**

The opening of the front door caught them all my surprise. Trina's breath caught in her throat. Nearby, Athena stiffened and even Josh seemed visibly nervous.

She waited, unsure of what to do. Unsure of how it would feel to see him again - how he'd feel seeing her. There was a whole host of reasonable reactions for him to choose from, and Trina prayed he wouldn't pick the one that never wanted to see her again.

(Un)fortunately, the footsteps in the hallway turned up the stairs before she had a chance to react. Josh exhaled audibly.

Trina had long wondered about her son's relationship with her husband. It was true that in the past he'd spent more time god-knows-where than at home, but she'd always thought he was going through a phase. It wasn't until recently that she'd considered that he might have been escaping.

She wasn't free of blame, of course. She hadn't realized they'd been pressuring Josh into something he'd never wanted until he was eighteen and announced he was turning down his elite music college acceptance to go to NAU in Flagstaff to study science. Trina was a designer. Beck was an actor. They'd know what they wanted all their lives... but Josh had always been made of something different. He'd wanted soccer, they'd made him sing. He'd wanted summer engineering programs, they'd sent him to band camp. And now Trina would spend the rest of her life regretting the fact that the meager academic education he'd gotten at Hollywood Arts hadn't been enough to afford him access to a better college.

Trina knew what it was like to want something you couldn't have. But her situation was different from her son's. Her parents had allowed her every opportunity to succeed, had obliged her every whim. She'd talked long and hard with Josh that night, and though she still didn't know what bioengineering was, she'd finally realized that it was all he'd wanted since the beginning.

Beck, on the other hand, would never really get why the son he'd pushed so hard to be the next John Mayer had left his guitar behind when he left for school.

Athena had inherited the bug, that was for sure. Trina never could mask how proud she was whenever her daughter got a lead in a musical, or danced onstage, or sang the national anthem for the local community college. She was good, too. She'd gotten that from her father. But the drive, the confidence, the motivation... that was all Trina. It was her greatest pride. Athena held herself like a woman in the face of adversary, had never seen a touch of stage fright, was self-assured and beautiful in all senses of the word. And a four year age gap was all the time in the world to fix their mistakes at let Athena take the reins of her own life. She blossomed into a true triple-threat under the guidance of her own desires, and Trina was sure the smile on her face was always genuine.

Okay, so maybe the hats were mostly Trina's idea. But Athena was her own woman, regardless of how skinny and seventeen she was, and if she didn't want the hats, she didn't have to wear them. Her parents had made that clear.

Trina had also suspected that Beck saw Athena as his second chance. When she was a kid, he'd worked harder to get her to shine. And after their failure to get Josh interested, he'd started to spend much more time with his daughter. He took Athena to movie sets and weekly theater productions, to Taylor Swift concerts and professional ballets. Anything to get her exposed and close to him.

In a way, it was almost shameful to look back on it now.

* * *

On the other side of the counter, Athena was pensive. Beck's return had left a bad flavor in the air that not a one of them seemed ready to acknowledge.

The thought that her father was so separated from the rest of them stung. She needed more closure. "I'm gonna talk to him." she murmured, nudging Josh in the chest. He froze, pursing his lips, and then shrugged.

Athena moved slowly back up the stairs and into the doorframe of her parents' room. "Dad?"

He glanced over at her from where he stood in front of the mirror, a smile lighting on his lips and deepening the crow's feet that women everywhere still found sexy. "Hey, sweetie. Listen, tell your mother I've gotta go to work and that I'll talk to her when I get home, okay?"

"Okay." She stretched her hamstring nervously. This conversation was like walking on shards of glass.

"Don't be upset, Thena." Beck said without looking at her, and she flinched. Was she that obvious? "I can tell because you're not acting normal. No one is. It's okay, though." He finished tightening his tie and turned towards his daughter. "Your mom and I will talk tonight, and we'll work things out. It was a petty fight, that's all. Nothing to get worked up about."

Once again, Athena got the sense that the reassurance was not for her.

She grabbed a pair of jeans and returned downstairs, where Josh was flipping through the texts on his phone. He held one up and showed it to Trina with a little guilty smile. "Mom, uh, I sort of let Dev know I was home, and now the whole family wants us to come over. You up for that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she replied too fast, and then put on a winning smile. "Ugh, well, if little Tori wants to see me then why not? Gimme some time to get pretty. Well, prettier. I'm always pretty." She pinched his cheek as she left the room, and if she met Beck on the stairs, nothing came of it. Athena let out the breath she'd unconsciously been holding in.

Beck sauntered into the kitchen moments later, running a hand over a freshly shaved jaw. He was a darker version of Josh, a sunnier version of Athena - all clean lines and sharp corners just like his children. While Josh's lighter coloring and Athena's curves obviously came from their mother and the hazel eyes they shared remained an anomaly, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that the resemblance was clear. In elevated age, his hair had started to gray around the temples in a quite becoming way, and the shallow lines on his face only served to add an air of wisdom to his features.

He stopped short upon seeing Josh in the kitchen. "What are you doing home? I thought-"

"-Wrong, obviously." The grin on his face was forced. Athena pulled her cell phone from her pocket and shot him a text.

**ATHENA: you are NOT starting this now.**

**JOSH: no. he started it years ago.**

**ATHENA: stop it you just got home what's wrong with you!**

He didn't reply, just pinched her arm under the counter, and she could tell the message got through.

Josh slipped the phone back into his pants pocket and grinned more naturally. "The usual - got a phone call, came home. What's going on?"

"Don't you have exams, though? Well, I suppose there's a reason you're only seven hours away. You talked to Mom?"

"But of course. Are you going to work? On a saturday?"

Beck chuckled. "The film industry doesn't do weekends."

This was very normal. Unanswered questions. Unfamiliar small talk. Unfinished business. A chorus of "un"s, and neither party attempting to get to the root of the problem.

Trina returned moments of uncomfortable silence later, a sweater draped around her shoulders. She looked beautiful, as if nothing had happened. "Hey, kids. Ready to go?"

"Twenty-one, not a kid." Josh joked, wrapping his arm around her neck.

"Go where?" Beck asked, turning briefly from where he stood by the door, keys in hand.

Trina rolled her eyes. "Tori and Andre's. Devin wants to see Josh." Devin, Tori's fifteen-year-old son, was infatuated with Josh. Josh was an awesome brother to all, even when it came to little cousins.

"Have fun." Beck replied with a smile, heading out the door, which closed like a whisper behind him.

Trina turned back to Athena with a newly brightened expression lighting up her pretty weathered face. "Let's go, huh?"

They left the house together. Athena sat in the backseat for the first time in forever. As she looked out the side window, feeling the mild carsickness begin to set in, she reasoned that this might be the case for a while.


End file.
